University Research Grants (URGs)

Gentleman volunteer or NCO of the 10th Foot with his commission, c.1810 (ASK Brown Collection)

The Society for Army Historical Research provides grants to encourage and support research undertaken by those studying at University. Each year the grants consist of one up to £1000, and two of up to £500. Applications are welcomed world-wide from any student who is currently studying at a University or similar institution. Grants are made for research that relates to the British Army or of the Land Forces of the British Empire and the Commonwealth. For details go to URG Rules and Guidance (approved 2016 for all subsequent competitions).

Recent awards have been to :

Minor Grant

2017 : Holly Winter of the University of Warwick. The grant was awarded to support a trip to The Cambridge South Asian Archive for doctoral research which will investigate the masculine identities of British men who served in the armies in India between 1799 and 1900.

2017 : Matthew Kovac of the University of Oxford. The grant was awarded to fund visits to University College Dublin Archives and the Irish Military Archives, for research examining the Irish Republican Army recruitment of First World War veterans during the Irish War of Independence of 1919-1921.

2017 : Ryan Crimmins of the University of Oxford. The grant was awarded to support visits to the Thirty Years War Museum in Wittstock, the Bavarian Army Museum in Ingolstadt and the Saxon Sate Archive and Museum in Dresden, in order to gather research on the material culture of religion amongst British troops in the armies of the Thirty Years' War.

2016 : Klara Aizupitis of the University of the Western Cape, researching popular representations of the Zulu and Boer War battlefields in South Africa.

2016 : Mike Hally of Edinburgh University, studying the creation and development of the ex-services organizations in the UK 1914-21 that evolved out of such groups as The Comrades of the Great War, The National Union of Ex-Servicemen and The Officers' Association. All of these societies eventually contributed to the formation of The Royal British Legion.

Major Grant

2016 : Dave Brown of Cranfield University whose PhD is entitled Archaeology of a Day: Re-evaluating the role of Tanks at the Battle of Bullecourt 11th April 1917. His research will look at the role, employment and performance of the tanks during that battle.